1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a tool for use with a conventional beverage can having a lid pre-scored opening flap for easy opening by the use of an opening tab pivotally attached to the center of the lid using a rivet post. In particular, the invention relates to a tool adapted to mount on the ring-tab to facilitate the effective opening of the can and thereafter provide a convenient means for covering the opening to prevent insects and foreign matter from entering the beverage can.
2. Description of Related Art
Flip-top beverage containers or cans have been in use for a long time in the beverage industry alongside the widespread use of bottles. However, in recent times, the use of cans has become extremely pervasive, not only in beverage industries, but also in snack and pet food industries. The substantial increase of the use of cans in the respective industries, resulted in gradual modifications in the lid and lift tab portions of the can in order to facilitate the opening of the can by the user. In general, the lid of a beverage can consists of an opening tab pivotally attached approximately at the center of the lid with a rivet pin. The lid also includes a pre-scored flap portion disposed adjacent to the rivet and in between the rivet pin and the inner periphery of the upper rim of the can. The pivotally connected opening tab includes a lifting and gripping portion on one side of the rivet and a detent portion on the opposite end portion of the opening tab. The tab, when lifted upward, uses the rivet as a fulcrum to exert a mechanical lever action to depress the detent portion of the tab upon the scored flap portion in the lid so as to force the scored flap portion in the lid downwardly into the can to make an opening to enable dispensing the liquid from the can.
Although, such containers have been extremely popular in the beverage industries, nonetheless, they still inherently contain longstanding drawbacks that many inventors have repeatedly attempted to solve. Often, in lifting, the tab poses a challenge to physically challenged individuals with either physical disabilities in their hands or having long and/or brittle fingernails. Some extremely tightly manufactured tabs also may pose a problem to a perfectly average individual without any disabilities because of the difficulties incurred in attempting to grab the tab for lifting of same. Since the opening tabs are not insured against breakage from its pivotal connection with the rivet pin, they sometimes break off before the detent portion of the tab depresses the pre-scored flap portion of the lid in an attempt to open the can. This situation is often faced by waiters/waitresses under extremely busy time constraints, such as, when they need to open a can quickly, and invariably the tab breaks off the lid without making the intended opening to enable dispensing the liquid from the container. In addition, since the opening tab is incorporated only to facilitate the opening of the can, once open, the can is not re-sealable, and leaves a wide opening for various unintended foreign objects and small insects to gain access and contaminate the contents of the can. It is very common for bees, ants, and other insects to enter through the opening if the lid of the can is not properly covered. This is especially a problem when people open the can out of doors, i.e., during outdoor sporting events or a picnic. It is known that insects are also attracted by the sugar of the contents even in enclosed areas, such as bars and restaurants.
In the past, various inventors have made efforts to address the previously mentioned problems, and attempted solutions have been made in the field. Except for a few, most of the inventions require structural modifications of the lid itself in order to accommodate the improvements, necessitating a change in the manufacturing process of the can to incorporate a lid that is re-closable after it is opened. The present attempt to solve the aforesaid problems deal with using existing conventional containers without modifications of the lid itself. The following discussed prior art is limited to inventions which have attempted to improve the use of conventional containers, in which an improved opening of the can and an effective re-closing the same have been attempted.
The use of a separate device or means, removably attached to the opening tab of a container to manipulate the same, is well known in the beverage industry. Detailed delineation of typical approaches to using such devices in manipulating a lid of a container may be found in a number of U.S. patents. One of such teaches using a separate tab extension sleeve as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,830 to Jamieson. In the Jamieson disclosure, two of the three embodiments of the invention have been directed to an improved lid, which requires a completely new process of manufacturing of the lid rather than using a conventional container lid. In these embodiments, the patent teaches a tab having an extended lifting section that overhangs and locks onto the rim of the container. The tab also includes a contoured sealing section integral with the extended lifting section. The contoured sealing section preferably includes a stamped ridge, which seats against the perimeter of the scored opening of the lid to seal the opening. The third embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 10, on the other hand, calls for a separate tab extension sleeve, which may be used in conjunction with a conventional container lid. The sleeve includes two locking arms contoured to fit over the edges of a tab of a conventional container lid. The sleeve, according to the invention, has an extended lifting section, a locking section, and a contoured sealing section having a stamped ridge as provided in the first two embodiments. The operation of the device is described as follows. The sleeve is slipped over the tab to hold it steadily to open the can. To seal the can, the extended lifting section is used to rotate the tab 180 degrees, and place the sleeve over the opening, so that the contoured sealing section fits over the opening. Finally, the invention discusses that, the locking section of the tab snaps onto the rim of the can to lock the sleeve on the can. Although the invention attempts to provide a tab extension sleeve, which may be used to re-close an open can, nonetheless, it suffers from similar drawbacks that its predecessors failed to address. The perimeters of the opening flaps are different for different cans so it is not clear how the stamped ridge 32 can seal different size openings or different shape openings. The attempt to effectively close such openings with a tab extension sleeve, having pre-defined stamped ridges of the contoured sealing section, is ineffective in a sense that, the same ridges may not conform to the perimeters of every kind of opening flap in the lid. In addition, since the disclosure does not reveal as to how the sleeve's contoured sealing section mates against the perimeters of the opening flap, it is not clear whether the ridges of the sealing section are capable of being disposed completely inside the opening. In the event the ridges rest on the top of the lid, there must remain a gap between the bottom surface of the sleeve and the top surface of the lid, such that foreign objects and insects can enter the opening and contaminate the content of the can. Further, the disclosure teaches that the locking section snaps over the rim of the can to lock the sleeve in place. Since different can manufacturers have rims of different heights, it is not clear how snapping the locking section over the rim can possibly seal the opening if the rim heights will not allow the locking section to travel downwards sufficiently to seal the opening in the lid.
Another attempt to provide a device to re-close an open container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,794 to Nordhoff. The reference teaches a method and a tool for manipulating an opening tab mounted on a beverage container. The tool 10, shown in FIG. 3 with the “prior art” legend has an elongated body 11 having a longitudinal length with a front end 18, a top face 12, and a lower face 14. An internal channel 60 is defined within a portion of the elongated body beginning in the front end and extending lengthwise within the elongated body to a blind end. The internal channel 60 is sized to accommodate a lifting/opening tab 20 of a pull-tab can. A cut-away section is included in the lower face of the elongated body. A groove 40 is provided in the lower face of the elongated body distally from the front end, so that the tool 10 may be locked onto the rim 55 of the container by snapping the upper edge of the rim into the groove 40. As understood from the disclosure and the drawings, the internal channel 60 of the tool 10 does not run along the entire length of the elongated body. In addition, it is clear from FIGS. 4 and 5 and the reference that, the tool sits on the lid of the container at an angle such that the frontal end sits on the top of the lid 51 while the groove 40 in the lower face of the distal snaps over the top of the rim 55 of the container. Since the tool is of uniform thickness, this configuration of the lid 51 and the elongated body leaves a triangular open space 5 along the underside of the elongated body. Although, the specification claims that the tool, along with the opening tab, “substantially” covers the opening of the can to restrict insects from entering, nonetheless, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 3, it fails to completely cover the opening of the can from all sides of the tool 10.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,380 to Tipp teaches a tab-lifting tool for lifting container lid tabs. The tool consists of a thin, relatively long, and narrow body suitable for holding in a user's thumb and fingers. The body has a front edge and top and bottom surfaces, the front edge having a beveled undersurface, which extends rearwardly and downwardly whereby the tool may be slipped under a container lid tab. The top surface has a generally planar main area and has a concave section intersecting the front edge having a sloped container lid tab-contacting surface that extends upwardly and rearwardly from the front edge until intersecting with the top surface. Again, since the bottom surface of the relatively long tool sits on the top of the rim of the container, it fails to completely close the opening of the can to prevent insects and foreign objects from entering the opening.
The aforementioned prior art devices, attempts to provide teachings to close an open beverage container, such that a complete seal of the opening is achieved. Though the search is not exhaustive, attempts to use a tool or device, in conjunction with an opening tab, in closing an open pull-tab container have not been successful. As described above, in all three references, although the device achieved some degree of success in covering an opening, nonetheless, all references fail to offer a device, which completely closed the opening under all circumstances to prevent access by insects or foreign matter. It is true that, though, an airtight seal is not required, yet the present problem calls for a solution, which requires the covering of an opening and restrict common insects and foreign materials from entering the opening. In addition, it is noted that, the prior art references all mention that their respective devices facilitate the opening of the can, but none of the references specifically teach how the device facilitates the opening of the can. Put it differently, none of the references describes the benefit of the composite characteristic, of the enclosed tab mounted inside the channel/locking arms, which can be obtained from a properly designed and configured extension sleeve disposed in conjunction with a pre-existing opening tab of a container.
Consequently, what is needed is a tab extending sleeve or tool, which can be used in conjunction with a pre-existing opening tab of a conventional container, first to effectively open the can, and subsequently covering the opening of the same ensuring against the entry of any foreign objects or insects.